Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/187

 A Summer on tlie Great Lakes.

��167

��" At last Mackinaw, great in history and story," announced the Historian leaning on the taffrail and gazing at the clear pebbly bottom and through forty feet of water.

" My hisfory consists of a series of statues and tableaux — statues of the great men, tableaux of the great events," said Vincent. '•' Were there any such at Mackinaw?"

" Yes," answered Hugh, " two statues and one tableau — the former Mar- quette and ]SIae-che-ne-mock-qua, the latter the massacre at Fort Michili- makinack."

" The event happened during Pon- tiac's war, I believe," I hastened to observe. " The Indians took the place by stratagem, did they not?"

" They did. It was on the fourth of July, 1763. The fort contained a hun- dred soldiers under the command of Major Etherington. In the neighbor- hood were four hundred Indians ap- parently friendly. On the day specified the savages played a great game of ball or baggatiway on the parade before the fort. Many of the soldiers went out to witness it and the gate was left open. During the game the ball was many times pitched over the pickets of the fort. Instantly it was followed by the whole body of players, in the unre- strained pursuit of a rude athletic exercise. The garrison feared nothing ; but suddenly the Indians drawing their concealed weapons began the massacre. No resistance was offered, so sudden and unexpected was the surprise. Seventy of the soldiers were murdered, the remainder were sold for slaves. Only one Englishman escaped. He was a trader named Henry. He was in his own house writing a letter to his Montreal friends by the canoe which was just on Uie eve of departure, when the

��massacre began. Only a low board fence separated his grounds from those of M. Longlade, a Frenchman, who had great influence with the savages. He ob- tained entrance into the house, where he was concealed by one of the women, and though the savages made vigorous search for him, he remained undiscovered. You can imagine the horrible sight the fort presented when the sun went down, the soldiers in their red uniforms lying there scalped and mangled, a ghastly heap under the summer sky. And to just think it was only a short time ago, a little more than a hundred years."

We could hardly realize it as we gazed up the rocky eminence at the United States fort, one hundred and fifty feet high, 'overlooking the little village. And yet Mackinaw's history is very little different from that of most Western settlements and military stations. Dark, sanguinary, and bloody tragedies were constantly enacted upon the frontiers for generations. As every one acquainted with our history must know, the war on the border has been an almost interminable one. As the tide of emigration has rolled westsvard it has ever met that fiery counter-surge, and only overcome it by incessant battling and effort. And even now, as the distant shores of the Pacific are wellnigh reached, that resisting wave still gives forth its lurid flashes of conflict.

Mackinaw Island is only about three miles long and two in breadth, with a circuit of nine miles in all. It rises out of the lake to an average height of three hundred feet, and is heavily wooded with cedar, beech, maple, and yew. Three of its sides are bold and rocky, the fourth slopes down gradually toward the north to meet the blue

�� �